


A New Heart

by sunlitflowers



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rumple and Belle are in love and Neal ain't happy, Sexual Content, Single Dad Rumple, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-23 23:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7483332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitflowers/pseuds/sunlitflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>rating changed for detailed sexual content. just in case.</p><p>Roth Gold and Belle French have been together for long enough time that they both want to get engaged and married, but there's one thing stopping them: Gold's son Neal. He's seen his dad get hurt one too many times and knows that it's just around the corner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 216.1 Miles

“Pop? Pop, I’m home.” 

Neal dropped his bag at the door of his and Roth Gold’s apartment in downtown Boston. They were near broke living in a place that barely had a bathroom that didn’t back up or break regularly. Their rooms were divided by a curtain Gold hand stitched out of old clothes when Neal grew out of them. For the longest time, Gold was having to make all of their clothes. After the war took his long and Neal’s mom took the money in the divorce, they were pretty much left to fend for themselves. Up until these last few days, fourteen year old Neal had known that his dad would do whatever it took to provide for them. Before six months ago, Neal watched his father have his heartbroken time after time from just trying to get back out there. Now he was dating a woman old enough to be Neal’s big sister. 

“I’m in here, Bae!” Roth called from the narrow little storage space where they kept their clothes. Nearly everything they both owned was out in the floor. Neal rolled his eyes. Another date. 

“I thought we were going to do something tonight?” Roth stopped looking for the perfect tie and turned towards his son. 

“Was that tonight? Oh, son I’m so sorry. Belle wanted to go to-” he stopped short seeing Neal’s annoyance. “I’ll cancel.”

“Sure her majesty wouldn’t mind?” 

“Belle is not that bad. She’s a wonderful, wonderful person.” Far more deserving of a person not in his stature, but she kept inviting him out. Tonight was flying to New York for the weekend to see the latest musical opening. She was paying for everything including lately new clothes for Roth and Neal. He had yet to bring her back to the apartment out of embarrassment over what she might want to fix. “She asks about you all of the time.” 

“Watch. When she leaves you, she may come after me.” Neal said, more bitter towards the woman that had done his father wrong than Belle herself. Still, it visibly made Gold flinch and stiffen and debate his entire relationship. Feeling bad for this, knowing it was the one thing every other week that his father had to look forward to, Neal huffed. “Go. But I’m inviting Emma over.” 

“Baelfire, are you sure?” Roth dropped whatever tie he was about to maybe decide and went over to his son to level eyes with him. Neal forced a smile and nodded, then let the hug happen. He even returned it this time. “You know I so very much wish for you to like her. She’d let you come along?” 

Gold knew that wasn’t going to happen, but offered anyway. He hugged his son and finished packing for the weekend with Belle. They’d been together romantically for six months by some absolute miracle. He had no idea what she saw in him, but she kept seeing it enough to keep coming back. They locked eyes when she walked into the wrong coffee shop after taking a wrong turn down the wrong street. He’d been there just to pick Neal up. Belle had smiled much longer than a friendly ‘excuse me’ smile. She whispered to the barista and at the moment, he thought she was talking negatively about him. Until Belle walked by and placed the coffee in his hands. There were seven digits which looked like they were in a good order, but he was doubtful. It took him three days to call, something he had to do from a pay phone. She was back home in Australia, but would be back in America by Monday. If he wanted to see her, and he did, he could meet her at the airport. So that’s what he did in, at the time, his best suit that was three sizes too big for him. Belle bought him a cell phone that she paid the bill on, and clothes for him and his son. Just as a gift. They’d been together ever since.

As he rode in the backseat of the car, all Roth Gold could think of was how he could see them growing serious. This was going to be their first weekend away together. He hoped in his heart of hearts that they could talk about this. All he wanted was to wake up in the morning with her in his arms. It didn’t matter at all the circumstances. Being with Belle, this beautiful diamond jewel of Australia. She was a brilliant businesswoman, high enough to be something like a Princess in her home. She spent her summers in country clubs and winters in the mountains. He couldn’t give her that kind of life on his own. But he knew that when they were together, Belle was happy. He knew she was much more comfortable holding his hand ice skating on a frozen pond in the park than almost anywhere else. He knew her. He trusted her. There was just one problem.

“There’s my favorite guy!” Belle beamed as she stepped out of a limousine and ran forward. He opened his arms to let her fall into them. She kissed him freely, hands coursing through his hair. 

“My favorite woman in the world.” Her happiness soon flat lined seeing that Roth was alone.

“Where’s Baelfire?” Gold pursed his lips and shook his head. She took a breath and pushed on a smile. “That’s okay. We can still have a fun time, right?”

“Of course. Are you sure you want to spend a three day weekend with me?” 

“I want to spend more than a weekend, you know that. I’d spend every day with you.” Gold nodded once more. He didn’t know too very much about anything in this world. But he did know this. “Come on, we’re going to miss the plane.” 

There was no waiting in line when with Belle French. Namely because they went through their own thing to get on the private jet. She hated flying on planes and used the one given to her by her mother for a birthday when she needed to travel. She could bypass security with her book bags. Once she’d lied about being late for their call together. She said she had been to a strip club when in actuality she’d went to a library opening at six o’clock in the morning and stayed until after closing that night. She had long since stopped being embarrassed about her favorite thing to do and instead brought some on the plane to share with him this time. She curled up against his side and nosed into his neck as he read to her. Belle looked up at him and smiled with all the love in her heart. He looked to her in the middle of the sentence. He was the only thing that she would let interrupt her favorite book. She leaned forward and kissed him.

“I love you so much.” Belle confessed. 

“I love you.” It came almost immediately before he could even think on what it meant.

“If we missed this musical it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.” She was actually telling him these words. This beautiful, real, young woman wanted him. How could he ever deny her anything? 

“I’d give you the world, Belle. I can’t give you anything.”

“You. I just want you. And Baelfire, you know. But you for tonight since you’re here.”


	2. 1,311.8 Miles

It was the biggest party of the school year. One month before graduation the underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) through a party for the upper. To even be invited for the planning committee was an absolute honor. The guest list was so strict there were security guards everywhere just for people dressed out of code. Those working serving food all had to be wearing the same pair of pants, shirt, shoes and tie from the exact same store. One seam out of place meant getting kicked out and blacklisted from entering even as a senior. Neal Cassidy had been his class’s poor kid and made this mistake when they let him in his freshman year as part of their community service hours. He’d gone home humiliated, but put on a brave face. Not that Roth had noticed. He was going to New York with his girlfriend. Even when Roth looked Neal square in the eyes and invited him along, his mind wasn’t there. 

Over the course of the next few years, that status changed. 

For Roth and Belle’s one year anniversary in Neal’s sophomore year, she found them a better apartment with rent controlled of a reasonable amount a month. It was closer to school and in a safer environment. Two bedrooms, two bath, larger kitchen, and washer-dryer included. Pet friendly so when Roth and Belle got a cat together (Rosie) it stayed with them. She helped Roth find a job so that by their second year anniversary Neal’s junior year of high school, Roth could pay rent on his own without her help. If she hadn’t been in Europe during prom season she would have paid for the limousine and both Neal and Emma’s outfits. All of it made Neal like her that much less. She was fake. She was trying to buy him as she had his father. She wasn’t a good person and it was taking too long for Roth to figure that out. During his senior year, now that Neal had the look and the money (and the exact same girlfriend which they thought was cute and romantic) he was the very first one to get off of the blacklist. Not because of anything he did himself. All because of the snowball chain of events Belle French set off.

Neal couldn’t even enjoy the live band singing up on stage. They were some girl group of four with an amazing sound, but he couldn’t care less. Neither could Emma, but that was because it wasn’t her style. They stood together by the stage with drink of something pretending to be alcohol in hand. The group brought members of the audience on stage to dance with them to end the song. Emma brought him along away from the crowd of people to a smaller group outside the large estate where people were smoking. They didn’t too much, but the clouded air was much better than being stuffed like sardines in that room. Out here it was just as worse as they talked about their future. Somebody was going back home where they gloated about being welcomed home with a float and parade for scoring in the 1600’s on the SAT. Another was teaching kids this summer to read. They all had their lives figured out. Neal knew that people like him didn’t get that luxury. They were doomed to just fucking whatever life tossed their way. Be it a lemon or a sugar cube. 

Emma wrapped a supportive arm around his waist and smiled. They had been together four years, the same as Roth and Belle, but weren’t nearly as problematic. Emma didn’t need lavish trips around the world to satiate her. She was perfectly fine holding his hand as they sat by the lake than anywhere else. Emma wasn’t high maintenance and didn’t require him to move homes to be more appealing towards her friends. Roth swore that Belle was his best friend, but that couldn’t be true. A best friend was someone who could be there on the dot the moment they were called. With Belle out gallivanting all over the world, she couldn’t be there for Roth. Emma was there no matter what. He was almost certain that in the last four years he’d call her at absolutely every single hour on the clock. When Belle took his dad away, Emma would come over and they would just hang out. Belle couldn’t do that. She couldn’t take the pain away from his papa. She was more likely going to be the reason that he got hurt next.

Just because it wasn’t surprising that Belle was in the apartment that night didn’t mean it was welcome. She and Roth were cuddled up on the sofa watching television. An amenity Neal had never had before Belle suggested it for him. Rosie hopped up off the back of the couch and pranced over to greet Neal. He shooed her away. Why bother getting a cat when they were just going to make it another one of his chores? Belle straightened, removed Roth’s arm from her shoulders and smiled like everything was just perfectly fine and she wasn’t probably twenty seconds older than Neal. 

“How was the party? Emma looked beautiful.” Belle praised. Neal shrugged. He didn’t need someone telling him his girlfriend looked pretty. He was well aware of the fact. 

“Thanks, Ms F.” Emma took up for coming in behind them. She was much easier about this aspect of Neal’s life than he was. She even encouraged it.

“Oh, Emma! I didn’t know you were coming over. I made dinner. I can warm you up something?” Belle offered, standing up. 

“Bae, you didn’t tell me-”

“That my girlfriend was coming over? I was just about to say the exact same thing.”

Belle paled at this and looked towards Roth for confirmation or denial. Roth calmly walked over, limping against his cane, and reached into his pocket. He produced a shriveled up piece of notebook paper and flattened it out. “Emma, if you’ll please.” 

Emma took the paper and read it aloud. “Belle will be coming over while you are with your friends. Please enjoy your night. If you need anything at all, call me.” She made the decision to omit the part where Roth had asked Neal to be nice to Belle when coming home. 

“And besides. I don’t need your permission to bring people into this apartment.” 

“No, no, no, don’t fight you two, please.” Belle said this more in Roth’s direction than Neal’s. “I’ll go stay at the hotel.” 

Roth grabbed Belle’s coat and helped her into it. He walked her to the other side of the door and down the hall to the elevator. While they kissed goodbye with hopes of seeing each other again before too long, Emma grabbed an oven mitt and swatted Neal in the shoulder.

“Wh-hey! What was that for? She was about to sleep over and you know what that means.”

“Same thing when it means I sleep over. Nothing. Because she loves him and respects you more than to do that. God, if I were her, your ass would stay here instead of you all going to Scotland.” Emma rolled her eyes, thinking this trip was common knowledge. Spoilers. It wasn’t.

“Emma. What are you talking about?” 

There was no way. His dad wouldn’t bring a girl on their trip to back to Scotland. They’d been planning this since Neal was in kindergarten and that’s where he learned his mother and father were from. They all three had promised they would go for his senior graduation trip. When he got teased for Roth dating someone so young, going to Scotland was what made him stay ins school. It was just supposed to be him and Roth. Neal didn’t even want to invite Emma to come along so he could spend this time together. He knew that no matter how serious Roth thought he was getting with Belle, his papa would never bring her. Neal stormed off towards his room and slammed the door hard enough that Belle’s teacup fell off of the counter. Emma rubbed her forehead and sighed in frustration of herself and him and his entire family. She left to go home after telling him to call her later when he was ready to talk about what was really going on.


	3. 2,838 Miles

“You’re definitely getting a ring this summer.” Ruby, Belle’s best friend in the world, said as they met for a morning work out in the gym.

“Or a tattoo.” Belle partially joked as she leaned over to touch her toes. 

“I thought Mr Low-and-Be-Gold had no family. Why Scotland? Why not go and meet your family? 

“You have got to stop calling him that.” Belle scolded with a pointed look. “And because Baelfire wants to go.” She groaned, leaning forward on the elliptical to hide her face.

“Then send him.”

“He already hates me for helping with the apartment issue and getting them a wardrobe that fits-”

“He hates you for that?!” 

“I don’t think Roth told him all of it.” Belle shrugged, but she knew for certain that was why. He’d barely been able to tell her. “It’s been four years. If he was going to propose, he would have done it by now.”

“Yeah, you’re starting to look a little desperate.” Belle gaped at her friend and reached over to push the machine. It hardly budged, but the intent was all the same. “Come on. You gotta actually sweat this time.” 

After an hour of crunching, sit ups, punching, jogging, jumping jacks, squats and punching with the help of Mulan, their trainer, Belle and Ruby packed up their gear and dragged their jelly legs. Belle was a little weaker in the muscle, Ruby having had been the best track runner back in high school. She was convinced into walking down to Granny’s diner for a glass of tea to celebrate the victory of exercising for the day. While there and cooling off, Belle called back several of those who had phoned when she was exercising. Paris needed her to sign some things, California wanted authorization the books they received were vintage, and Hong Kong had a gift for her they needed her to retrieve. Then she took a look at the personal calls and remembered last night after reading Roth’s name. They almost ravaged each other then and there, but stopped hearing the glass breaking.

Belle needed this to work with Baelfire. She felt motherly towards him all of the time. She wanted to sit and talk about his day. She wanted to know about how work was going, how his relationship with Emma was, if he’d gotten into any colleges and what he wanted to do with his life. She didn’t want to take his biological mother’s place. She just wanted him to believe that her love for Roth was pure and genuine. She wasn’t going to go anywhere. She wanted them to have holidays together. If Baelfire and Emma had any children, she wanted to grandmother the baby too. She saw her entire life when she looked at both Roth and Bae. She had from the very beginning. Love at first sight only existed within her storybooks before that moment. She was just about to call Roth back when her guy stepped into Granny’s. Ruby saw Belle’s eye wandering and encouraged her to go; they’d see each other later and things obviously needed to be settled. 

“Hey.” Belle grinned walking over and kissing his lips. Gold leaned into it to extend the moment a bit longer. 

“Am I tearing you away? Go be with your friends if you need.” 

“Dorothy is fixing to be here and I am not third wheeling again. Besides, we have some things to talk about. What did you call over? Did you talk to Baelfire? How much does he hate me?” Belle rambled off as they went from the diner out into the street. Roth took her hand and drew her near so she was against his chest for her comfort.

“I didn’t mention how important it is for you to be there, but yes. We did talk. He’s inconsolable about this unless Emma comes along.” Belle furrowed her brows then looked up at her long time boyfriend.

“So there is a way that he’ll be happy about my going? Bring Emma? I can do that.” 

“No, no! I’m not letting you pay for anything else, Belle.” He couldn’t stop the slight laugh as the gears in her head began to turn on this. 

“Please? Then he can have someone to help you fight against Milah, too.” Belle reminded him of the only real reason she was going on this trip. Facing an ex alone wasn’t an easy task. No matter how long ago it had been, Milah was the mother of his child.

“Fine. But no Emma when we go to Australia.” She agreed to his terms with a smile and a hug around his neck. “We’ll get there.” 

“All of us?” 

Roth Gold had been on a few stragglers of dates since his divorce when Baelfire was hardly knee high to a grasshopper. None of them he’d brought back to the apartment (Belle only saw it once) out of his own shame, but it never got that deep anyway. The ones he did find that gave him more than a passing glance were younger girls looking for…not what he had. He didn’t have the money. He didn’t have the clothes. Once they found out about Baelfire, forget about it. They were out the door so fast their feet didn’t leave a mark. People didn’t like dating people with kids. It was a hassle to them, not having someone put all their effort into just that other person. His had to be split. He always chose Baelfire over any minuscule possibility of a date. He refused to miss a birthday. The only one he ever had was Baelfire’s first, because Milah went off the deep end, and that was a moment he was never getting back. Then Belle came along. She wanted Baelfire to go everywhere with them and offered to bring Emma along constantly. She was the only woman in the world he knew loved Baelfire almost as much as he did. She didn’t just want a relationship with a man vulnerable enough to say yes and need whatever she was willing to offer. She wanted a relationship with a man and was willing to take his son along with them.

Gold had known all of this before, of course. But standing there outside of a diner with a girlfriend fresh from workout wanting nothing more than his son loving her. He held her tight against him. He was well aware that Baelfire had wanted this trip to be done with his immediate family of father and mother, but it wasn’t going to happen. There was no way that he could go back to Scotland without something to show that he wasn’t still grovelling for her back. That’s what stopped him from ever going back home. It had taken Belle a very long time to convince him that he was worthy of something better and that he deserved Scotland as much as it deserved him. Belle was the reason this trip was happening. Neal was too irate with this development to even try and comprehend every good thing that occurred in the last four years was out of the goodness and kindness in Belle’s heart. She would never replace the mother Neal hadn’t seen or heard from in a little over ten years. Roth was certain that was the reason Baelfire had issues with his relationship.

“I’ve got to go to Glasgow ahead of time to settle some things, so I’ll meet you there. If you want to take the jet, let me know. I’ll send it for you.” Belle explained while walking hand in hand down the street with him. 

“What things, Belle?” Roth knew she was going to go out of her way to make this the best trip of all four of their lives. Her coy little smile did nothing for his nerves.

“Nothing too major, but I’m already running late. Kiss.” She asked, puckering her lips for him. He leaned forward, caressed her cheek, and pecked her lips. Belle whined when it wasn’t the usual goodbye-kiss he gave her.

“I’m going to find a place for us all to stay together and still have space. Our summer home.” She tried her explanation again, knowing he wasn’t going to like it. Gold knocked his forehead against hers. “I don’t want to stay in hotels just to avoid Baelfire. I want to be with you and not just be some girl that you hook up with when I’m in town.”

“Belle, is that how you-?”

“Doesn’t it look that way? How is Bae ever going to see us as serious if we are never together except when he’s out?”

Them getting married was a thought, but if Bae hadn’t seen a four year relationship as serious yet he wasn’t going to. Gold wasn’t going to tell her he was thinking about it until he knew Baelfire was okay with this. They could hopefully be together as long as it took. Of course, asking Belle to wait that long was shitty. He felt terrible for all of this. He hardly approved of Emma, but he didn’t try to make Bae leave her for his own sake. She made Bae happy and that was the most important thing in the world to Roth Gold. If Belle was making him that unhappy, then Roth would leave her. But he knew that this wasn’t Belle being a terrible person because she wasn’t. Roth wasn’t so blindly in love with her to not see it it either. For the first year of their relationship it was all he looked for. Emma knew Bae best and assured him constantly that wasn’t the case. Gold didn’t know what to do. 

Until not too long ago when he was sitting at the graduation ceremony alone in a sea of thousands of other parents and family and friends. Belle had claimed she had somewhere else to be, but Gold knew it was because of Baelfire. He came to the realization that in a few short months, if Baelfire kept acting this way even when off to college, Roth Gold was going to grow old all alone. Without the woman of his dreams ever being officially part of the family. Of his life. Sharing his last name and maybe one day they could have a little one of their own if the time was right and he didn’t get too old. They’d had two pregnancy scares since they started this entire chaotic mess and only talked about children once when the second time was months behind. She wanted them, boy or girl or whatever she could be a mother to, but wanted to wait to have someone to raise them with. She mostly wanted a life partner. Belle was alone every single day of the year that she wasn’t with Gold or Ruby, which was getting rarer and rarer now that her father was getting sicker. They both wanted the same things. They both had the same ideals. It was a perfect match. Gold just wished he had the guts to ask her.


	4. 9,216 Miles

“Neal, this is a free trip to Scotland. ” Emma reminded him once they were sitting in Belle’s private jet along with Gold. Neal looked over to see his father peacefully asleep. A miracle seeing as he hated flying and got sick over it often. “What’s really going on?” 

“I’m scared.” Neal confessed so quiet that he just had to hope Emma heard. She did and her lips parted in surprise. Neal was never scared. When he was, Emma was the only one in the world to know about it.

“They’ve been together a long time. Is it really that scary?” 

“He and my mother were together for ten years before I was born. More people are getting divorced than they are married. She’s going to want to move us to Australia and we’ll never…” Neal stopped himself short. Emma didn’t like talking about commitment when it came to herself. In other people, she was barely supportive. She should have been the one person on his side. 

“It’s too quiet back there.” Roth stated, eyes closed and still leaned over on the window. 

He hadn’t heard anything they’d said this entire flight, but the white noise of his son’s voice had helped. The pharmacy hadn’t allowed him to pick up the anxiety prescription to calm him down. He settled on drinking himself to death if that’s what it took to settle him. Gold would smell to high heaven, but he’d just have to deal with that later. They would be landing in just a few short hours. When Bae and Emma started talking once more, he took another drink out of the shot glass. He taught Belle to stock her bar well. She didn’t drink anything stronger than an Arnold Palmer and didn’t mind that he did. He couldn’t wait to be with her. That would mean he’d have to deal with Bae being upset that Belle was renting a summer house for them, but also that this godforsaken ride would be over. When they finally did land, he was just a little bit tipsy.

Belle was standing there all by herself and that made him quite upset. A little too much, actually. Bae and Emma stood on each side as they helped Gold fumble down the stairs. She wasn’t upset over this. She stepped forward to help him and laughed as he fell against her chest. He worried that she was lonely and hugged her tight. Belle kissed his cheek and stood him up. He continued leaning against her, telling Belle about how much he missed and hating her going anywhere without him. He said the flight was fabulous and Baelfire didn’t cry at all unlike last time. Emma snorted behind her hand on this comment. Belle smiled and rubbed his arm to comfort him. He was good with his alcohol after a rest, thankfully seeing as it was too dark to show Baelfire around his homeland. 

Belle traveled too often to ever actually get a license legally. Her driving in Boston had just been her freaking out and the rented car being near by. After meeting Roth she fired her driver to keep them alone as possible. Today however, traveling with a family of five, she hired one for their indefinite time in Glasgow. There was no plan of how long they were going to be here. Orientation for Neal and Emma’s going to college had been settled and arranged for the time being. Neither one of them were too particularly keen or excited about the fresh start in a new place so it didn’t really matter. Not to them at least. Belle and Roth wanted them to get as good an education as they possibly could at this age, but she wouldn’t say that. She wasn’t much older than them. She was taking what she wanted without disclosing anything to anyone other than Roth who greatly supported her. Perhaps this summer adventure could show that what they were learning was actually going to be useful. Gold only hoped.

Belle gently stroked Roth Gold’s hair as he passed out against her shoulder, finally finding a comfortable place to sleep this out. She was so glad that he was the most emotional and affectionate drunk she had ever met. At least now. When she had first seen him under the influence, he was seething with anger. Typically then it was due to Milah getting Baelfire’s hopes up that she was going to be there for his birthday and then not showing up and then their son taking his anger out on Belle. It was Belle who helped pick out Bae’s first car. It was Belle who took Emma to the clinic when she needed to for checkups. Belle was doing everything that Milah should have been. Why Bae could not see that infuriated Gold. In the beginning to the point he would reach for the bottle. Not anymore. Now he just did this at leisure with dinner. Or when the pharmacist wouldn’t clear an early prescription. Belle couldn’t take care of everything.

“Welcome to your home for the next little while!” Belle greeted as they turned onto the road. 

The five bedroom home sat within generous gardens located in Whitecraigs. It elevated over Cathcart Golf Courses, Glasgow City Center and towards the Campsie Hills. A bright sun porch opened to a wood paneled reception hallway lead into a drawing room with a fireplace and bay windows overlooking the front gardens. A formal dining room held another fireplace and panoramic view of the outside. Exiting there, there were generously proportioned windowed sitting room with the door opening to the balcony overlooking the rear gardens. This floor also contained the breakfasting kitchen with range of floor and wall mounted cabinets. The master bedroom was down here, containing an en suite bathroom. Another bedroom had been converted from a study.

The upper floor contained bedrooms two and three, the Lauder of which had an included shower room. Bedroom four lead to a useful box room that was going to be an extra closet for storage. The lower ground floor, with separate access, provided a 33 foot games room, laundry room and a sauna with a shower recently added. Two integral garages contained automated doors and a tool store. They were in the process of building a guest apartment not too far off. The entire place was enclosed to provide privacy and shelter. The gardens lamented the expansive lawns, seasonally colorful, well stocked borders and positioned terraces. They were a thirty minute journey time to both Glasgow and the Ayrshire Coast, as well as just nine miles South from Glasgow City Center. It was perfect.

“Everything is furnished and should be set up. I’ve been working all week to make it perfect, but don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything at all.” She smiled at Baelfire and Emma. “Go choose your rooms. His is downstairs in the master if you need anything.” 

“We’re not under any impression that you two don’t sleep together.” Emma stated. Belle looked to Baelfire. He caught her hopeful glance, but tore away. He nudged Emma’s waist and nodded towards the direction of the house. Emma grabbed his wrist and stationed him. 

“Yeah, yeah fine. Whatever. Come on, Emma.” He tugged her onward. Moderately satisfied, Belle lifted her flopped over boyfriend from the car he was using as a cane. 

Belle pulled him in through the labyrinth of hallways and doors until they made it inside of the bedroom she’d designated for him. She shut the door quietly and dimmed the chandelier at the center of the room, offset of the bed to soothe her paranoia. She laughed as Gold grasped for her body, any part his hands could reach. He settled for wrapping his arms around her neck and leaning backwards so they could fall onto the bed together. She fell next to him and he smiled. Eyes were glazed over and he was a lot of loopy, but looking happy nonetheless. The fan blowing behind him gently stuck fragments of his hair in just the right way. He reached forward and placed a hand on her cheek. She moved closer and pressed her lips to him. He restrained her from making it a simple little peck and began deepening it. He was good at this and better with his tongue. Far too much seeing as his son and probably future daughter-in-law was right upstairs. But there was nothing on her mind when Roth Gold kissed her.

“I’m scared.” He stated out of seemingly nowhere. Belle frowned, worried about him. “About Neal and Emma.” 

“They’ve been together a long time, sweetheart.”

“People separate. It happens all of the time. He’s going to college and I’ll never…” Gold stopped himself short and cleared his throat. Belle, seeing what this really was, kissed him once More.

“You’ll never be alone. Neal loves you. He’s so much like you.”

“He’s going to hate Australia.” 

“Then we’ll have something else in common. Trust me. If Australia is what gets him to like me, that’s great. If not, then that’s even better. For now,” Belle sat up and tugged the quilt out from under him. She pushed it over him and tucked him in. “You get some rest. Showing Bae where you grew up begins bright and early in the morning.”

“If we’re not going tonight, I don’t know where you think you’re going.” Gold hooked an arm around her waist and brought her back into him. 

“Nowhere. But we can’t christen this bed. Not while they’re here, that’s just weird.” She rolled over and got under the covers with him, tangling her bodies with his.

“It’s weird being happy here.” 

“That’s how I’ll feel going back to Australia. I…” She paused, swallowed a pain that never left. “I wish you got to meet my mother.” 

“I think I may have, dearie.” Gold leaned forward and pressed a chaste little kiss to her neck.

“Charmer.”


	5. 10,085 Miles

Neal backed away from the door after hearing Belle’s confession about her mother. He wondered if Mrs French died or left, but he didn’t think the two all that different. He’d come down to ask for a room with more natural lighting just to antagonize and see how far he could push Belle’s niceties before she snapped and left just as he thought she would. For a moment that changed. He could see Belle taking Milah’s place. Mostly because she already had. Guilt over this soon followed. Then regret. Then anger. He turned around and started marching back up towards his and Emma’s room on the second floor. Emma was topless, in the middle of changing, but their honeymoon phase was over. He didn’t want to immediately jump her the second they were alone anymore. This had only made the relationship that much deeper as they could talk far better than they ever had. Sex wasn’t a prescription for pain. They both learned that the hard way.

“So do I need to bother unpacking or is Belle moving houses just to make you happy?” Ever the voice of motherly wisdom. 

“I didn’t ask.”

“Good. Because this place is beautiful and you are crazy for thinking it wasn’t. She’s not trying to buy you. Trust me.” Emma urged, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder to counteract the level of ‘trust me or else’ in her voice. Emma did know. Being bought and being hurt over and over again were just a a minor amount of things she knew about. It’s what they bonded over. 

Right after Milah and Gold’s divorce, it was all around school as the hottest gossip. He was all alone the entire day until recess when Emma Swan, like the only foster kid, sauntered in and asked what his problem was. She was tough and could call him on his bullshit even back then. She had been given up as a baby and still didn’t know who her biological parents were. She knew Belle could find out, but wasn’t ready for that. They had eighteen years to find her and learn about her. As far as Emma was concerned they were too late. Every time Neal wanted to adapt that same philosophy he couldn’t do it. Emma got him through Roth’s first date with a terrible woman who didn’t like either of them anyway. It was a slow scaling moment downward from there. He instead learned about protecting loved ones. Belle wasn’t the first one he tried to keep away. She was just the first one to keep coming back.

The next morning, Gold had a little bit of a sore head but nothing to do with the alcohol or doing anything fun the night before. Today was the day of showing Baelfire where he came from and what kind of life they left behind. When he was younger, he dreamed of showing his child around memory lane. He never thought how major things could change in such a short amount of time. Before he could blink, Roth Gold was homeless and pretty much an orphan after his father ditched for who-knows-what. He grew up absolutely in poverty, the only shelter was under an old textile mill. He didn’t want to relive any of this. At the same time, he did for Bae’s sake. The shit hole apartment they lived in Boston was nothing compared to what Gold grew up in. He wanted his son to understand why it was so important that Belle helped them get out. Aside from the fact of a a few other reasons he wasn’t ready to disclose yet. He shuffled only to have his arm tugged on. 

“There’s no way you are freezing. You slept with every blanket.” Gold scolded, very much not serious at all.

“And you’re still the warmest.” Belle smiled, pulling his arm back around her. He rolled his eyes, but slipped back in next to her. He groaned when she nuzzled her cold nose into his neck.

“How do you get this cold in three seconds? I barely moved.” 

“Wickedly cold hearted. It comes through when you’re not around.” He fought hard, but a smile still made its way onto his face.

“That’s not even a little true.” 

“You’re too far to tell.” She pulled him closer, moving him easily over her.

“They are still just upstairs, dearie.” 

“You are in pain from being here. I know what we planned last night, but I think you should let them go explore and join us for lunch.” Belle knew what this trip meant to Baelfire, but she wasn’t going to put Gold’s own sanity above that. 

“I was thinking actually that maybe I could take Bae and you keep Emma here. I could show you another time.” Seeing Belle’s frowning face, he amended his statement. “When things are better.” 

“Kiss then.” He chest tightened in adoration seeing she understood what he meant by that . Gold pressed his lips against hers with all the love in his heart. The feel of her lips curling into a smile was the most wondrous feeling in the world. Her arms wrapped around his neck, he felt her breathing become labored while they were chest to chest. It was a good thing she stopped them by turning her head away and laughing slightly. 

“You are gorgeous.” She praised, bumping his hip with her knee. She leaned forward to kiss his cheek and stopped. “Have you been dyeing your hair again?” 

“I…” Gold didn’t have an excuse that didn’t sound pathetic. But, she didn’t look upset or judgmental. She just rolled her eyes and pecked the space she was going to.

“I love you. I love the way you look completely naked and not even a little bit erect. I love every last inch of you.” Belle promised, hugging his neck. He sat up between her legs. She followed to stay latched against him. 

Roth Gold sat in the driver’s seat with his son Neal to his left. The driver had the day off to make this as painless as possible for Roth to do. They sat in mostly silence aside from Neal drumming on the dashboard. It was a nervous tick he started upon hearing Milah and Roth fight. Making noise either drowned them out or got them to yell louder. When Roth figured this out, the fighting stopped. He never raised his voice again. It wasn’t worth anything to have his son grow to be afraid and have fighting be synonymous with arguing. He was not just the person who was meant to be a model for how Neal should be. He also showed him how to treat loved ones. Neal coming home after detentions for punching a kid stopped not long after Roth realized this and made the change. The other thing that Gold taught his son, this one accidentally, was to shut out everyone after getting scorned. The only person he never did this with was Emma.

Gold drove for hours out of towns and entered into the country on his way oust north of Inverness. From birth, it was just Roth Gold and his father, Malcolm. When they traveled like nomads on foot Gold thought it was the most fun in the world. They never stayed in one place for too long and Malcolm liked the game where they pretended to be bandits on the run. What Gold didn’t know, and what he continued explaining to Baelfire with a very stoic expression, was that there play pretend was real. Malcolm was a gambler with a problem that didn’t know how to stop. He and Gold’s mother lost every penny they had and couldn’t pay for medication when she got sick. She died in childbirth with debts upon debts still over her head from what Malcolm had done trying to get her help. It wasn’t that they were too poor, Gold learned later on. It was that no one in Scotland would ever help Malcolm no matter what he did or why. Baelfire took his father’s hand.

They arrived at Knockando Woolmill a little over four hours after leaving Glasgow. They’d stopped and taken pictures and stretched their legs periodically to show Baelfire his heritage. Gold thought it was safe to assume they were created and thrived there all the way back up until he left for better days in America. He’d saved the story of how he met Milah for this moment. Knockando was where his father left him quite often while he went to go search for work. There young Roth Gold stayed hidden behind and blending in with the tourist crowd when they came. There were a pair of sisters that worked and noticed his constant appearance. They took him in, but he wouldn’t give up on his father. Gold believed in Malcolm. Gold loved Malcolm more than any other person in the entire world. It was supposed to be them against the entire world. Those feelings were completely one sided.

The day Malcolm left for good shattered Gold’s entire world, but the sisters wouldn’t let him grieve. They took him in, made an old recipe of meat pies that slowly became his happiest memory, and gave him the job. Inside Knockando was the granddaughter of a woman too old to use the machines. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Milah had smiled when she asked about his father and explained she lost her own parents at a young age too. He couldn’t remember any other good moments after that. He confessed to Baelfire that a nice smile and a kind word went above and beyond for him. That’s all it ever took. So he married Milah and a few years later Baelfire was born. At the time it was to save their marriage. Afterwords they realized what a mistake it was to put all of that pressure on a baby. They loved him, but it wasn’t enough. Kind words wasn’t all it took to keep two people together. They went to America where they lived together as a family up until Baelfire was in second grade. They suffered fourteen years altogether together in their marriage and it was finally over.

“You should have left her when she said your leg wasn’t an accident.” Baelfire pouted. “Or when she changed my name to Neal Cassidy.” 

Gold took a deep breath in then exhaled to tell him the truth. Three months before Baelfire was born, Roth Gold’s name was drawn from a raffle to join the army. He enlisted, one of very few excited to fight along the other men protecting their families. One night when he was guarding a prisoner, he fell asleep and had a dream that he died during his first battle leaving his son fatherless. Desperate to not have Bae grow the way that he had especially with Milah, he awoke in a cold sweat and broke his own leg. He was not given a dispatch of honor which shamed him greatly. He denied every single day on the journey home that he’d done it out of fear for his own life. He told Baelfire as they sat on the hood of the car looking at the Woolmill, that was when things truly went south between him and Milah. This was not something he ever wanted to tell, but Baelfire needed to know why this trip hadn’t really been possible without the support that he had.

“I don’t think you’re a coward, papa.” Bae said after a moment of silence to take this in. “Do you know where Milah is now?” 

Gold shook his head. “Last I heard she went sailing with a captain of a ship. She never loved me, Bae. But I know she loved you.” 

“I don’t.” Gold couldn’t blame Baelfire for that, but he kept his mouth shut. “I wish she could see what she’s done to you. What she’s done to me because of that.”

“Would you like to see her?” That question only came out of concern for his son. “There’s ships docking tomorrow. I cannot guarantee she’ll be on any of them, but it might be worth it to go look.” 

“Wouldn’t Belle mind?”

“She’d want you to see your mother. I know that much.” Bae considered all that he was told and decided to sit in silence for a moment instead of answering one way or the other. “Bae?”

“Hmm?”

“I love Belle very much. I’d like to meet her father. I would like you to go with me.” His hopes deflated seeing Bae roll his eyes and push off the car to get back in the passenger’s side.

“Yeah, I’m sure her father is going to be just as thrilled as the rest of them that you’re sleeping with a girl my age.”

“That’s _enough_ , Baelfire Valan.” Gold middle-named his son. “I understand that there’s a part of you that doesn’t want Belle taking the place of your mother. She doesn’t want to and she never will. “

“That’s not what-”

“No. Listen to me. I’ve heard nothing but complaints for the last four years. They took me off of disability because someone saw me with Belle and couldn’t think she’d want to be with someone actually in my predicament. We were going to get evicted out of making too much money. Belle’s paid for my medication. Belle gave us our home so we wouldn’t be homeless. I have a job because her business was getting fucked over and I’m the only one she trusts. She has done everything that she can to help us.”

“So it’s my fault that I spent the first fourteen years of my life watching my father get hurt every single day and am supposed to just accept that this one isolated case might be good? I’m not going to let you end up like that again.” 

“You’re leaving, Bae! You’re going to university in September and Belle will not agree to marry me because you’ll never accept her.” 

“I’m not going that far.” Bae’s voice lowered into a quiet, almost understanding and almost sorry, voice. Roth stepped forward and hugged his son. Baelfire was stiff, but returned it after a moment.

“You’re still going. Everyone does. Even Belle when she’s got to go back.”

Bae knew that if Gold and Belle did marry, she’d take him to Australia and he would never see his father ever again. Maybe…maybe that was for the best. “I’ll go to Australia. I want- it’d be easier if Emma went, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've never been to scotland but i tried my best.


	6. 10,155 Miles

The call came in the middle of the night. The first one in the three weeks that they’d been in Scotland where Roth and Belle were finally allowed to be alone. Everything leading up to that phone ringing had gone completely wrong anyway. The mood wasn’t right, she couldn’t get her hair to lay how she wanted, her negligee ripped because it was too small, he’d burned dinner and his stomach growled for twenty minutes before they finally ordered a fucking pizza and decided to be done with it. They passed out three slices each into it and were asleep for forty five minutes. Belle almost let it go to voice mail. It was Gold wanting a glass of water to wash the taste of pineapple (their order messed up) from his mouth. She glanced at her phone and the blindingly bright screen to see Baelfire’s name digitized. A picture of him and Emma when they were together flashing. Something was wrong. 

That was all Belle had to say before Mr Gold was in the driver’s seat before she could grab the keys. She tossed them and dove into the passenger’s side while talking with Emma. She claimed that they hadn’t seen the ‘no trespassing’ sign and Belle believed her. The couple had been arrested several times in the last two years and never called. They knew they deserved to be in trouble and weren’t willing to own up to it. Belle didn’t hear about it until they were released. Possibly that way so she wouldn’t pay their bail. The affluence would have spoiled them rotten. This time was different. This time meant something. They went thirty over the speed limit down the street and into town where they were being held. After hanging up, Belle spent the entire drive ranting on about how dare they accuse and arrest these two over something as silly and trivial as trespassing. It was an accident. Their first in a foregoing country. Belle swore it was because their passports said American they were getting a harsher treatment. She’d seen it done dozens of times in her own home continent. 

Belle marched in the station wearing minimal other than her torn nightgown and a housecoat. She hadn’t bothered to mess with any kind of shoes or brushing her hair. She hadn’t bothered to do anything to look like something other than an outraged, ferociously protective, mother. She did, however, manage to bring her diplomatic tags. 

“You can’t park there.” One of the officers claimed, following them in. 

“I am the deputy director at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. You have my son imprisoned for something he didn’t do and I will damn well park where I please.” Belle spat in their direction.

“Ms French, please ignore him.” Another man walked around. Belle narrowed her eyes in his direction.

“I want Neal Cassidy and Emma Swan’s release right now, Keith Nott.” Belle said his name through her teeth.

“You said this was your son?” 

“Belle-” Gold stated next to her, grasping for her hand. Thinking he was just nervous, she squeezed it and continued on.

“Stepson.”

“Quite a record he’s got over in the states.”

“That is between him and his father.” She pushed down his throat. 

“Actually, it’s between me and his father.” Another woman’s voice sounded from behind them. Belle turned to glance her way. “Milah.” 

As if Belle couldn’t be any more furious. If it were possible, Milah would have burst into flame under that gaze. Belle didn’t take the hand when it was offered. Belle smiled. “Pleasure to finally meet you. What brings you here?”

“Neal called me.” 

All of Belle’s anger melted away into absolute sadness. Those flames turned into an ocean of tears ready to drown her out. She stood there mouth gaping. No matter what she did, Baelfire was never going to like her. Never going to accept that Milah had always been out of his life. She took her hand from Gold’s hold. Bae could call her the worst things in the dictionary and it wouldn’t be as painful as this. She was done. She’d snapped. She turned towards Keith Nott and paid Neal and Emma’s bail then walked right out of the station. She went to a pay phone and called for their driver so Mr Gold and Bae and Emma and Milah could have the car. He pulled up and took her back to the house. She asked him to wait for just a moment outside.

Belle didn’t cry the entire time she packed her stuff and changed into clothes. She didn’t cry as the driver helped put everything in the trunk. She took a few deep breaths when her phone rang. With tears in her eyes, she saw the caller ID. A picture of her and Gold. Two days after she left America, she couldn’t stand it and flew right back. He met her at the airport and they kissed for the very first time. Then, Belle swore that was the moment she knew he was who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When she met Baelfire for the first time, it didn’t change her mind. When Bae called her every word in the book for wanting to be with a man Gold’s age, Belle didn’t change her mind. She fought tooth and nail through everything he’d thrown at her. She never swung back. She simply caught it. This time, however. This time it hit straight in the gut. She could hardly breathe as this broke every rib and punctured her heart and lungs.

It was raining outside, Roth Gold seemed to notice first. Then he saw Baelfire standing next to him out of the holding cell. Then Emma racing by Milah to go outside. Then Milah there and Belle…gone. He didn’t have to imagine why. He looked towards his son. He thought they’d made so much progress this last month. One phone call that was probably five minutes at best just ripped everything to shreds. Bae truly couldn’t stand Belle. Standing there, not running after Belle, Gold felt like he’d picked a side as well. He couldn’t have them both. If he absolutely had to, Gold would chose Baelfire any day. He never thought he actually would. Belle was gone. Just as Bae always predicted. She’d taken his ability to speak, to walk, to breathe with her. A light in his house had gone out. All he wanted to know was why. He must had asked this aloud, because Baelfire answered. When he did, Gold’s reaction was that he couldn’t let her leave without hearing it.

“Come on, baby, pick up.” Gold pleaded into the phone. Milah was behind him talking about something he couldn’t be bothered hearing.

“I’m going home.” Belle’s sweet voice was wrought with tears. 

“Don’t. Not yet, not until we were planned to. Just wait for me to get there?” 

“I can’t do this anymore. You and I have suffered so long over this. Maybe it’s-”

“Not like that. You have fought, Belle. Don’t end it like this.” A silence.

“My flight leaves in ten minutes.” He knew that she controlled that jet far with just as much ease as she used commanding that police station. 

For the second time that night, Gold drove faster than he should have. Emma had gone to get the car, knowing the reason Milah was called. She’d told Neal it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. Emma waited behind with Neal as they both had their passes to get home. If they and Gold were lucky, the driver would be available within no time at all. Gold didn’t stop driving through any red light or yield sign. If he was a minute too late, she’d be gone from his life. He had no idea if he would ever see her again. Not soon enough anyway. She’d be back in America where they worked together, but that was it. That wasn’t like this. Once more, Gold parked where he wasn’t supposed to. He hurried as much as he could with a limp and no cane. He was in absolute pain but, if she left, it wouldn’t be comparable. If she still wanted to leave despite the real reason Baelfire called Milah, they could deal with that later. 

Gold searched the entire Glasgow Airport and found no sign of her. He thought his leg was about to snap beneath him, but he pressed on. Until he finally thought to ask someone. He’d delayed it knowing what they were going to say. The jet he was looking for had already left. :He sat down in one of the chairs and leaned his head into his hands. He let Bae control every aspect to keep him happy and wouldn’t want to go live with Milah. In that prospect, he’d been gradually pushing away the one woman who may actually love him. He screwed everything up. She had done every last bit of the fighting. If he’d done it right, then she wouldn’t be so hurt that Bae called Milah instead. She may have even stayed to hear the reason why. But she was gone out of his life. And for the second time in all his years, Roth Gold was left alone and heartbroken and in more pain than he’d ever suffered before in his decades. Faux leather boots stood in front of him. A pale bare knee nudged his.

“There’s my favorite guy.” Gold looked up to see she’d been crying. He started to stand up when she knelt down in front of him.

“You deserve far better than what you’ve had.” He apologized.

Belle shook her head, holding his face in her hands. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you. I can’t handle that.”

“He had the best of intentions. He called Milah to give us our night together. Emma was the one that knew better. They’ve been in contact for the last few days.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me Milah was even here?” Belle asked. Given her reaction to what just transpired, perhaps it was for the best. “I’m so sorry.”

“You did nothing wrong, dearie. Just come home.” 

“What about a room? I want my night before we go to Australia. And I need you.” All Gold really need were those last three words. He would take care of everything else. Belle phoned Emma to give an excuse they were settling some legal things and what needed to be taken care of before leaving for Australia (something Emma saw right through) and they were off.

When they were together, the place didn’t matter. Once they rented a roadside motel with a heart-shaped vibrating bed and a busted sink. Tonight was no different. They found a hotel with a vacancy not far from the airport. The room was amazing and the view was beautiful, but the planes didn’t stop flying overhead. Belle didn’t care. So neither did Gold. She sat him down on the bed to rest before crawling up into his lap. She hugged his neck and pressed completely against him. Their lips met and Gold only ever felt her this emotional once before. Tonight she needed to be taken care of. She needed this to be slow and precise. Exact and with purpose. Not just another fuck in a room to see each other naked. Gold pulled her close against his chest as he kissed her closed mouth. He didn’t pry open her lips or shove his tongue down his throat. He kissed her until their jaws were sore and hers went slack to let him have more. Gold outlined her body with his fingerprints, sliding her shirt up. 

The first night he’d ever felt her skin was in the backseat of a taxi cab. Gold almost drooled the entire evening seeing Belle dress in clothes that were a little more revealing than she usually wore. She took his hands and wrapped them around her. The first time he removed her top was also the first time he’d ever been in her American home. She had a place in a small Maine coastal town. Belle told him it was okay after asking if that was a thing he’d wanted to do. The first time he’d touched her breast was that same night. She’d laughed, but not making fun of him. His hands were rough. She was soft. Every inch of her was soft. The first time those legs of hers were wrapped around his neck, he thought he had died and found heaven. She waxed now, but she hadn’t then. At least not in a while. She was so shy about it until his fingers and mouth moved through the dark curls with just as much vigor. Now she wasn’t shy about anything. They openly talked about her hating her period specifically because she wouldn’t let him go down on her. The first time she sucked his cock was the morning after New York. He woke up to her kissing him sloppily on the neck. Her asking to go down on him still played around often in his mind as he took himself in hand and listened to her sounds via phone call. They were perfect together. 

Gold moved his hard, erect cock into her quivering vagina and watched the pleasure shudder through her body. There wasn’t much else on her mind anymore. He could’ve done whatever he wanted and she would love it, but that wasn’t tonight. He continued slowly. In and out, giving her half an inch more than what he did before. He accelerated when her nails dug into his flesh and she moaned his name. Belle gasped as he plunged into her. She scraped him as he thrusted right in with the sweet spot every single time. He didn’t know if he was bleeding or if it was the exhilaration burning through him. Her talented fingers tangled in his hair, the other hand holding his cheek. Her thumb accidentally slipped between his teeth. She smiled, eyes fluttering open to look at him as he bit down teasingly. The moment that she did, she couldn’t stop looking at him. Belle watched him struggle to keep his own grunts and groans muffled. The slight crease in his brow at the absolute focus. The only time he ever lost his need to control and keep everything close was when they were literally screwing around. He was good to her. He could have her come undone quickly multiple times a night, or one fantastic one that would knock her out after. He was perfect to her.

“I’m in love with you.” Belle promised, already half asleep. “Never forget that. Australia is not going to be good to us.” 

“I won’t.”


	7. 10,514 Miles

Once more, Belle French had to leave before Mr Gold, Baelfire and Emma. Gold returned back to the house after seeing her off to the airport. The jet returned for them a few hours later. Baelfire didn’t talk about Milah, but apparently she’d been invited to come back with them to America and declined. They weren’t going to hear any more out of her unless or until the next time they were in Scotland. Gold didn’t plan on it, but they did have the home. He had a second home. He who grew up completely in poverty and vying for every last crumb had a second home. He was in love with a woman who loved him just as much. He was meeting her father in just a few short hours. It was completely surreal. Belle was going to get him his medication once they were all settled in. 

He didn’t drink this time. Bae held his father’s hand the entire way while talking to Emma on the other side of the aisle. All about completely inane stuff, but it helped him not think. His heart was thudding all over his body. Everything was freezing cold. This was the moment he never thought he’d have to do. He was meeting his girlfriend’s father. This father who was an Australian diplomat and had appointed his daughter to her job. This father who apparently was already infuriated that he hadn’t met Gold by now. He was going to throw up. There was no father on the planet that would be okay with their daughter dating someone with such a difference in age. He’d had issues when random people found out Belle and Baelfire were separated by four years. The longer he thought about it, the more he realized how strange it was all over again. If only she was a fly on the inside of his brain.

Ordinarily when they traveled, there were other planes and other people coming in and landing and going out. It was eleven o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday. One of the busiest times of the day and there wasn’t a civilian in sight. Just several men in suits, sunglasses, and earpieces standing in front of and behind Belle French. She stepped forward to greet him, but they stopped her. As each passenger of the jet stepped off they were scanned. Then their luggage was emptied and surveyed. They took Emma’s nail clippers and Baelfire’s scissors. Gold reached a hand towards Belle, but they blocked them. Her own reaction was hidden behind the man. They were placed in four different cars to keep every person separate, Belle getting the limousine. They wouldn’t be able to see Belle until dinner. They weren’t allowed to leave the Australian villa without an armed escort. Associating with Belle French outside of a social setting without a guard around was prohibited. Gold swallowed a hard lump in his throat. 

“Okay, look. I need this trip to go perfect. Do not disobey any of these rules.” Gold warned both Bae and Emma before they were allowed past the great marble wall. 

The villa contained enough space to cater to eight adults or two families with young children. Outside, a fence surrounded the twelve meter swimming pool in addition to a playroom complete with toys and games for children. In that space was well equipped with air conditioning, television, DVD, video game consoles, wireless internet and a movie collection of near 200 films. Professional chefs from famous restaurants around the continent were employed as well as designers from the latest boutiques. The nearest beach was a ten minute walk from the front door. The master bedroom contained a four post King sized bed, the general amenities from the playroom, a daybed, walk in dressing area and an en suite bathroom. The double vanity and double shower were furnished with marble. It held a view to the pool and the garden out on the balcony. The second, third, and fourth bedrooms all contained the exact same with King-size bed and their own bathrooms. The fifth bedroom had been converted into another playroom with board games, puzzles, toys, and craft supplies. 

The kitchen was split in two parts, the front and back. A frosty cold bar fridge, cupboard space and sink came with the front kitchen. This was also the area where bar stools had been set up to enjoy a scheduled cocktail hour between five and seven each night. The back kitchen was where the oven, microwave, six burner cook top, dishwasher, and large fridge with attached water and ice maker. Cutlery, glasses, plastic ware, pans and other utensils were provided by the chefs. Meaning no dishes when they were off duty. The staff would prepare the mills and clean up after behind closed doors. Everything was beautiful and vaguely reminiscent of the Scottish house Belle had picked out. This wasn’t even where she grew up in Australia. Her home was a drive up the hills behind them. He didn’t think they would be so far apart. 

Gold sat in the entertainment room and read something while Bae and Emma raced in the video game and talked amongst themselves. Mr Gold read the same line one thousand six times and couldn’t understand a word of it. A phone call asked for them to get ready and only wear the outfits chosen for them in their rooms. The celebration to welcome Belle French home would be taking place there to save from anyone go that close to the French estate. Moments after that call, chefs, butlers, maids, bartenders, musicians, all appeared in the driveway lead by a woman on a mission to get it all set up. It took her no time at all to make sure everything was perfect as though they had just been waiting for a moment to use the party house. Upon realizing that was exactly what this place was, Mr Gold began pacing once more. A hand placed on his shoulder in comfort. Gold looked to see it was his son.

“It’ll be fine.” 

“Perhaps.” Gold sipped in the cool air and exhaled. “I’ll be back.” 

The music began playing to liven up the party.

“She’s here!” One of the many attendants or workers called from the window. 

Gold stopped walking and looked over his shoulder. There she was. The most gorgeous human being in the world wearing that fabled yellow dress she had seen when they went walking in New York. Off the shoulder, full skirt, long ball gown. She looked absolutely divine. On her arm was a young man in red holding her much too close. Behind them was a man that Mr Gold knew to be her father from pictures. Belle searched around until she finally saw her favorite guy. She grinned, pushing off her escort’s arm, and went to Mr Gold. In front of everyone. She reached up to hold his face and bring him down to her. She leaned forward, fixing to kiss away the entire world, but she was pulled back. Belle looked around to see her father scowling.

“Don’t do this right now, Maurice.” Belle stated, reaching for Gold’s hand.

“I’m not going to have you do this here. I did not approve your little fling visiting with his children.” Maurice hissed under his breath.

“Actually, Neal here is his son. I’m Emma.” She stepped forward to introduce herself. 

“Look, Mr French. I know this situation is weird. They’ve been together for four years and I just-” Baelfire tried to defend.

“Four years?!” Maurice yelled. Belle and Gold looked to each other knowing what was coming. “Isabelle Colette French, is that what you’ve been doing? Is that why we got screwed over because you’ve been fooling around?” 

“No, Maurice. Unlike you I can balance my personal and professional life.” Belle rolled her eyes, pushing away his arm. Maurice shoved her back.

“You have done some very stupid things in your life, but this is by far the worst.” Maurice pointed a finger in her direction as he got angry with her. It only made her more furious. Mr Gold could see it and ushered his son and Emma a little bit away. That smile was not a happy one. The only time he’d ever seen her like this was when the mess in New York happened. Baelfire took Emma into another sanction of the party to get a drink.

“Oh, I must get sleeping on the job from you. He and I even had sex in the office more than his apartment. You were almost a grandfather after a wonderful night in Maine.” Her movements became eccentric, hands and arms moving around as she ranted. Even so, it was just the calm before the storm. “Unlike you, Maurice, I didn’t have a wife and child back at home waiting on me!” 

Baelfire and Emma hadn’t actually left to go get a drink. They stuck around and listened to Belle fight for Roth Gold. They were old enough to not care about Gold’s sex life and also figured it had happened by now all things considered. What neither of them were anticipating however, was two things that occurred after Belle told her father in a rather decent way to fuck off. First was Maurice drawing back his hand. The second was the fact that hand didn’t have time to do what it was going to. Then they watched Gold move faster than he had in years. The end of his cane swung around like a professional baseball player. Maurice’s ribs cracked immediately on impact. He just assaulted a diplomat in a foreign country. For Belle. It might as well been an assassination attempt. Bae had never seen his father so angry. 

“Stop!” Belle intercepted when Mr Gold was about to continue beating her father with a cane. “Look at me. We’ve talked about this. Remember?” 

_This happened before?_

“Tell me what you are.” She pressed, hand gently lowering the cane. 

“Pissed.”

“Does that make you a bad person?” His intense features softened as he actually registered her.

“I’m not sorry.” 

“No.” Maurice groaned from his place on the ground. He managed to stand himself up with the help of Belle’s intended escort. “But you’re going to be.” 

At that, Baelfire grabbed a lamp and marched forward. “You’re not going to touch him!”

“No, Baelfire. He’s not. Mr Gold was just protecting me. It was an act of defense. That’s all.” Belle assured, turning her still angered gaze towards her father. “He will be pardoned, because Maurice cannot run his empire alone.” 

“She’s not wrong. Losing the director for your foreign affairs is not going to do well. Especially as a diplomat.” Emma pointed out in Belle’s defense. 

“A child is even worse, but if you touch her like that again-” Belle stopped Mr Gold before he could make the situation worse. 

“Settle this first.”

“I’ll pardon the attempted assassination under one condition.” Maurice stood, leaning heavily on the escort. “You come home. For good.” 

“Deal.” She agreed without a second thought, needing Gold to be free. 

“No, you’re not doing this. I’m not letting you. Not when you hate it here.” Gold pulled her back towards him.

“You hate being here?”

“Listen, Mr French. These two have been together through a lot of shit because of me. I didn’t approve until like three weeks ago.” Baelfire continued what he was trying to say earlier. “Belle has done a lot for us. She’s been my mom and if you take her away it won’t end well for any of us.”

Gold only relinquished Belle for this. She went over and hugged Baelfire tightly. If she lost them all today, it would be worth it knowing that she had his approval. Everything she had ever worked for was happening. Years of patience had finally paid off. She kissed his cheek then hugged Emma as well. Baelfire’s girlfriend was a huge part in making this work and deserved every bit of praise and thanks Belle could give her. Behind her, the advisers were whispering to Maurice. 

“Belle. Tell me honestly. Do you love this man?” 

“With every beat of my heart.” Belle nodded, going back to him. “You should be glad that I have someone to stand for me. Even if it’s not how I like it, you’d have done the same thing.” 

“I can’t have this going unpunished.” 

“I have an idea.” Belle stated. She let go of her King’s hand, much to his unwavering discomfort towards her father. She looked towards Roth Gold and pecked his cheek to promise she knew what she was doing. 

“I’d be willing to discuss your conditions.” Maurice granted her, then addressed the guests. “Let’s begin our party! The princess has returned, that is still something to celebrate!” 

“I’m not losing you again.” Gold denied this meeting. 

“I’ll still do anything for you and Baelfire. Just trust me, okay?” Belle reached up and held his face between her hands.

His eyes narrowed in Maurice’s direction for putting his child in this position. “Fine.”

Belle and Maurice retreated into the study while the guests went outside. Roth Gold, Baelfire and Emma remained inside to learn of Gold’s fate and what Belle had to do to obtain his freedom. 

“Papa?”

“Yes, Bae?” 

“What did Belle mean when she said you two have talked about this? When you got mad and was about to beat Maurice?”

“There…was a man who…you’re not the only one that doesn’t approve of the age difference. A man came up and said some not nice things to us and I did some not nice thinks back.”

“Woah. What did you do, Gold? Wag your finger in his face and give him a stern talking to?” Emma laughed, a little uncomfortably in her effort to lighten the grim topic.

“While I was breaking his ribs and threatening to rip his tongue out, yes.” Gold said this under his breath as though he were worried of Baelfire’s reaction.

“I didn’t know you were the jealous type.”

If they only knew. “Not when they don’t know how to speak to a lady.” He turned his attention towards Emma. “If Baelfire ever says anything terrible to you, let Belle know. Anybody for that matter.”

“I grew up in the system, Gold.” She reminded him. “It would take the two of you a long while to get through my list.” 

The door to the study opened and out stepped Belle looking far more in a better mood than her father. She walked over towards Gold and kissed his cheek that everything was fine. She would explain the deal later, but for now, they could all use a breather the party provided. She wanted to dance with him and Baelfire too. She lead them out unto the lawn where everything was set up just like something in a fairy tale. She would know. She once designed all of these events to look like something out of her favorite books. Tonight’s theme was from a book about four people who traveled across the globe all of time looking for love. They didn’t find it until they returned home and realized what they were missing all along was a second glance. Cheesy and corny, a little tacky, but she had loved it. Without a second look Belle would have never seen the man she knew she was destined to be with.

“I quit my job.” Belle explained into his ear as they danced the night away. “You are banished from Australia and I’m running away with you. That way the media sees it as the love story it is.” 

“Don’t you have to appoint someone? I can’t take away a man’s child. That’s not right.”

“I have and you’re not. You know how miserable I am here. You know I hate thinking about coming home. I want to be with you and Baelfire and Emma and have our family. He knows I want out.” 

“So it wouldn’t be too obscene if I did this now.” Roth Gold took a step back and held her hands in his. 

“All my life long I’ve waited for someone that saw every part and wanted to be with it. You’ve accepted everything. The man, the beast. The malignant son.” He nodded towards Baelfire deep in conversation with Emma. 

“I’ve waited for this moment for four years. It took traveling over ten thousand miles to get there, trouble in Scotland and in Australia, for this to happen. So, I hope you will accept one more thing from me.” He stepped back and sat down in a chair instead of kneeling. He procured a ring more beautiful than anything she’d ever see again.

“Belle French, will you marry me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took FOREVER and I sincerely apologize. as always, thank you guys so much for reading. i appreciate every single hit count, kudos, bookmark and comment. i cannot express easily what your support and kind words means to me.


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